In more than one way, First Stage's world premiere 'The Forgotten Girl' is a ghost story

First Stage's world-premiere production of "The Forgotten Girl" embeds a Halloween-appropriate ghost story in a pointed drama about the specter of segregation in America.

Playwright Idris Goodwin has adapted India Hill Brown's 2019 novel for middle-grade readers into a 75-minute play, staged by director Jon Royal in the 142-seat Goodman Hall in the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center, a little gem of a theater that I hope more people will discover.

Close to home, young students Iris (Madison Jones) and Daniel (Santana Marie Hayden) discover the abandoned grave of a girl their own age, Avery Moore. As the two living students begin researching a school project on neglected graveyards, Avery's ghost (Gia Deacon) haunts Iris, who already struggles with feeling forgotten in school as a Black student whose accomplishments are overlooked.

Iris and Daniel learn that Avery was one of the Black students who first integrated their very own school in the mid-1950s but is not remembered there now. There's also a mysterious connection between the dead girl and Daniel's fearful grandmother, Suga (Cynthia Cobb).

In this production's simple but active staging, young performers Ricki Simonton, Elliot Lippman, Reed Sturrock and Kayle Phillips represent the elemental forces of wind and snow in this world (as well as possible spirits that trouble Suga). They continually reconfigure simple pieces on stage for the play's many different scenes.

While there's a strong paranormal element here, these characters are also grounded, normal kids who cope with a mean girl at school and a mom who is strict about tablet usage before bedtime. One of my favorite touches: Iris and Daniel message each other at night with flashlights.

Watching "The Forgotten Girl," I couldn't help thinking about the many places in the United States where government officials and activists are curtailing and eliminating the teaching of Black history. They might be able to erase the words, but Avery Moore is here to remind them that the ghosts are not going away.

Congratulations to Goodwin, who now has two world premieres running simultaneously on Milwaukee stages. Milwaukee Repertory Theater is performing his hip-hop-oriented show "Parental Advisory" through Oct. 29 at the Stiemke Studio.

If you go

First Stage performs "The Forgotten Girl" through Nov. 12 at the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center, 325 W. Walnut St. For tickets, visit firststage.org or call (414) 267-2961. First Stage recommends this show for people 10 and older.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: A ghost haunts students in First Stage's 'The Forgotten Girl'